Until I am Claimed
by MuderBurger
Summary: A short story from the point of view of a survivor of the wolf pack.


**UNTIL I AM CLAIMED**

**When I was little, I would stand at my bedroom window and stare out at the forest. I would listen for hours to the mournful cries of wolves. It was a sweet, calming melodie, but three days later, my thoughts of the wolves started to change forever. Three days later, my life would change. My mother would be gone, and I would never hear her stories of the hunt, nor would I her her voice ever again.**

**My mother's name was Merin. She was a good strong hunter. She had always loved us all. My father would tease me sometimes; telling me that she loved me best and that was why my brother Aaraac poked and prodded me countless times with names and insults. Not anymore though. My mother was gone, and no happiness shone through our shattered lives. To me, her death was all my fault. That one night on the hunt made me wish I had stayed behind at our small village, in the warmth of our fire.**

**I had only been three when my mother had decided to take one of us on the hunt with her. Aaraac was jumping up and down, begging her to choose him. Mother smiled at how excited he was, but told him that it would be best if she took the quiet one who didn't make so much noise. As we rode away with the dogs, something did not feel right. The snow on my tongue tasted bitter and full of despair. The air I breathed smelled of hate and fear.**

**The one thing however that scared me the most was howl of the wolves as we neared the forest. It did not sound friendly and warm as usual, but came out as an evil cackle of death. I clutched my mother's sleeve as she untied the dogs. She looked down at me and smiled. "Are you scared Akane?" she asked gently.**

**I nodded slightly. She reached down and picked me up, telling me that there was nothing that could hurt me. I listened and nodded or shook my head at her words. Than she put me down, and taking my hand, led me into the forest with the others. I looked back one last time at the village's dimmed lights. I then lost sight of them as the darkness of the forest swallowed us up.**

**That same night, my mother, and two other hunters were slaughtered by the wolves. I had run off for some reason, and they chased after me. Some how I had lead them into a whole ambush of wolves. My mother was the first to die. As I hid in the hollow of a tree, I cried and listened to the screams and snarls of the massacre. After awhile the fighting stopped.**

**The night was silent as the snow fell; covering the blood-stained bodies of my mother and her companions. I fell to my knees in horror at what had happened. Why? Why had I run like that? The loss of those three hunters was many years ago. I cannot remember why I did such a foolish thing that cost me my mother's life.**

**As I lay next to the bodies, a small rustle reached my ears. I closed my eyes as I waited for death to take me as well. It never came. Instead, a tiny puppy trotted out from a bush. Her eyes gleamed blue, and her soft red coat shimmered as the wind rushed by it.**

**I turned away, hoping that she would leave me alone and go back to her family, but she simply curled up next to me. I slept through the night with the small puppy next to me. My green eyes would open at the slightest noise, and I would grip my dead mother's spear when the wind rushed through my black hair. Somehow I had made it though the night.**

**My father and brother rejoiced at hearing I was alive, but they soon grieved to hear of Merin's death. My father stopped hunting that night. Aaraac, my brother, became leader of the hunters. Ever since that horrible night, those same hunters chase the same wolves. As soon as I was of age I joined as well.**

**My dear friend that came to me that night earned her name at the first hunt we went on. Rasheeq; which means hunter. When I turned eighteen, I heard news that the wolves had taken my brother as they had taken Merin. I rose to become the leader of the hunters, just like Aaraac and my mother. Ever since then, Rasheeq and I have hunted the wolves with our heart, and souls. And so we will, until the wolves take us just as they did my family...**

**-END**


End file.
